The Director of the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, said she expects daily visitation from Hong Kong to reach up to 10,000 after ferry services to the Macau Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal resumed Thursday morning.
The first ferry, departing from Hong Kong’s Shun Tak terminal in Sheung Wan, left at 8am carrying 176 passengers on a TurboJET service.
“Recently, the average number of visitors entering Macau from Hong Kong has been about 7,000 per day, and I believe that with the increase in traffic capacity between Hong Kong and Macau, the number of visitors could reach 8,000 to 10,000 per day,” Senna Fernandes said.
Last week, the Macau Maritime and Water Authority announced that the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal would reopen on 19 January with at least 10 daily departures to and from the Shun Tak Ferry Terminal in Hong Kong. Night services have also resumed.
Services were suspended on 4 February 2020 due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
The resumption of services comes after IAG reported that some online booking platforms had listed some standard Macau hotel rooms at well over MOP$10,000 per night during the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday.
Fernandes responded that “some online platforms are working with Macau hotels, but there are also ‘impossible prices’ and the hotel industry has been alerted this week and advised to monitor the situation.”
She added, “Most hotels in Macau are fully booked for the New Year … but there are some hotels that are not completely open due to manpower issues and the government is collecting information on the manpower situation of the hotel industry.”
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